Exile 2: Crystal Souls Part #18 - The Tomb of Dahris-Bok and the Long Fall

Part 18: The Tomb of Dahris-Bok and the Long Fall

Update 019 – Tomb of Dahris-Bok and the Long Fall

"Now that we are resssted, ssshall we pay our rezpektsz?"

"Yesss, we ssshall. I am interesssted in sseeing what iss to be done."

“What do we know about Vahnatai burial rituals anyways?”

“Nothing, I think. Sir, Ma'am?”

“Only one way to find out.”

If you try to bypass this completely optional dungeon, bad things will happen to your party. Besides, this is simply a Social Call, so why not stop by and say 'Hi!'?

“Hrmm...”

“Thisss place iz very old. We should be careful.”

“Well, this Dharis person didn't even install a proper door. Who gets to go first?”

“What.”

And here is the gimmick, one that will be repeated until the end of Exile 3! Pick one person to go into an area, while the rest stay outside. In general, these locations are designed that anyone with any skills can pass through, be it by stealth, magic, or by being plain badass.

“Art, you go.”

“Why?”

“You are the best of us.”

“And you're the priest. I think you'd be best at dealing with some dead person looking for absolution.”

“Wrong gods!”

“I agree, it should be Art.”

“I mean, if she doesn't try preaching, I suppose it would be the best. Do she have the proper robes?”

“Not that I've seen. And she's reliable enough to not make a mess of things, violence aside. I mean, Dahris-Bok has asked politely, in its own way.”

“Do I get a choice in this?”

“NO!”

“Art iss alsso leader. It would be inzulting to offer one of lessser sstature, even myself.”

“I ssseee your point.”

“If that's the case then she needs to put on the best presentation. We should make sure she has the best gear.”

“Polish up your blade, my dear. It's Vahnatai make, so you want to look your best!”

“Or I could just jump through before everything goes horrible.”

I want to confess something here. As Art is my viewpoint protagonist, I will need a very important reason to not use her in the solo sections.

For what it's worth, given the current party composition, Kai-Lyss would be the best choice.

“Still can't read the language, but even then, this is pretty obvious.”

“Subtle.”

While I like the challenge that solo-sections create, they do a horrible number on my ability to create a narrative story.

“Lever over there. Gee, I wonder if it will open another door somewhere?”

“You know, for a guy who wants his respects paid, Bok sure isn't making things easy.”

I suppose I could have Dahris-Bok talk to Art while she goes killing everything, but that would force me to reveal information that comes naturally later, or to speak in riddles which would annoy you guys reading this, myself for writing it, and Art for being just plain annoying.

“Boringboringboringboring.”

Artificial light sources. I don't think I've shown these off before. I don't think I will again as Art can cast Light.

“So, I can either set off a trap or kill a couple Ghouls? This is some pretty shoddy tomb design.”

As I said, these solo dungeons tend to be designed to allow for anyone to get through, one way or the other.

“And I expected a trap here. I gotta thank Kai-Lyss for his map when I get out.”

“I could just cast spells to kill these guys at range, but they're trapped over there. Kai-Lyss would enjoy the target practice more.”

“OH HAPPY DAY!”

“When this becomes a threat, it'll be because I'm old and senile, and not wielding ancient weapons made of pain and agony and poison.”

“Lever!”

“Think she's doing alright?”

“Of course.”

“If there wasss an issue, I prezume she would return.”

“Well, that was nice, a quick path back.”

“One door down, two to go.”

Oh god, I hate this room. Every tile in here changes the open/close condition of the three gates above. It took me ten minutes of getting annoyed to figure it out because the guides I've been using to supplement my run through don't give the answer clearly.

And you're not getting one from me, sorry. It's been a while since I've gone through this dungeon before this writing, and I was just more interested in figuring this bitch out than anything else.

I can tell you that you have to end with all three open standing on the tile to the left, and to the up-left of Art in this image. As you have to step out here to get to the next area, having all three open anywhere else does you no good.

“Hey! Something to take my frustrations out on!”

I spent so long at this, I had to re-cast my Light spell. I hate this room. Really, I do. And Vogel doesn't even consider this to be difficult!

“Next time, I'm sending Aarth-Tsss. Show her what utter stupidity one has to deal with while being a 'hero'.”

“Man, I wish Ember was here. She would make this fun.”

“I miss her.”

“Really?”

“Karmas and I keep in touch. Peregrine has been pretty busy with the War, but we still exchange letters.”

“Duncan's busy over in the Abyss, last I checked, working with what's left of Scimitar.”

“Hah! Thought you could fool me?”

“Apparently you can. Well played, empty cavern with no way out. Well played.”

“DIE DOOR DIE!”

“And I've got no clue where Rook went.”

“Wake me when there's a serious threat?”

Skeletons are so low on the threat scale at this point, I'm not worried about Art being surrounded like this.

“I wonder if this is one of those doors where I have to pick one to advance while the other leads to fiery doom?”

“Both doors lead to your doom actually.”

“YOU TALK! Now shut up and let me stab you.”

“What do you know, it was his doom actually.”

I stacked a few Bless spells on Art during that fight by exploiting geometry. Where she is, under about 5 stacked Blessings. At this level, each Bless gives +10% To Hit, and +2 Damage. I think every 10 levels of caster increase the bonus by +5%/+1, so at level 50, every casting is +25% To-Hit, +5 to Damage. And this buff stacks.

A Wave Blade does 1d10 base damage, plus a bonus from Art's Strength, plus the 14 from the bonus from the weapons and the Blessing. Art did 9-15 damage usually on each strike. A Vampire is simply that tough.

“Is that...?”

“Not as awesome.”

The Steel Wave Blade is only slightly less damaging than the Magic Axe in Art's off hand. And both are inferior to the Alien Blade.

“And that should be the last door.”

“It occurs to me that I could have Move Mountain's this broken piece of wall. But if I did that, I wouldn't have had to kill everything!”

“And I wouldn't have nearly broken my shoulder bashing down that door leading to the Vampire. I don't want to know how long it took me to brute force that door.”

“...”

I'll be honest here. I found this secret passage, and realized that I could have bypassed the last fifteen minutes or so of dungeon. After sputtering at my own stupidity for a moment, I put on my shoes and took a twenty minute walk to cool my head.

“STUPID STUPID STUPID!”

“So, who wants lunch?”

“Did Art-Tss bring food?”

“She can summon mana, she need not.”

“Trap senses, tingling.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Maybe I should stop talking to myself?”

“Nah. Keeps me sane.”

“Hello? Dahris-Bok?”

“Honoured Predecessor, I am not worthy to give you your respect, but please, accept it none the less, knowing that you are not forgotten.”

“Right. Add 'Punch the Vahnatai responsible for insulting their own spirits' to the list of things to do. I think I'll put it somewhere around Punching Micah in the face for revoking my security clearance.”

“I have done this way too many times to even think that this is a remotely good idea. Leave the treasure alone, Art!”

“That was an invigorating stroll.”

“Back!”

“I presume we can passs ssafely?”

“She's back, isn't she?”

“I wonder?”

Did I mention you only get one shot at this dungeon? Because you only get one shot.

“Where did you find this?”

“Uh... somewhere? I swear, I didn't get it by robbing a treasure vault!”

“A gift?”

“Let's go with that.”

“Wasn't that from the Goblins?”

“Perhaps.”

“Please don't remind me.”

This is where you would get your ass handed to you if you didn't complete the previous dungeon. Aren't old-school RPG's grand?

“Oh no.”

“That wasn't so bad.”

“Our supplies got wet. Let's take a break.”

“Why go thisss way?”

“To see what there iz to see?”

“And to be taunted by visible signs on the other side of impossible to cross caverns.”

“It's also, what, a mile down?”

“<Ancestors.>”

“Does anyone see the bottom?!?!?”

“No.”

And no matter how much food you have, you are left with barely any after these waterfalls.

“There's more!”

“NO MORE!”

“I think we're done.”

“Come on, we can take stock of our supplies here.”

“Sssomething livesss here.”

“I think we should wait this out.”

In this dungeon is a case where there are two opposing sets of NPCs, monsters this time. The Hydras are allies with us against the invading Chitrachs. Unless you intervene, the Insects will win.

I don't intervene.

“Let them fight.”

“That was cruel, Sir Ma'am.”

“I don't see the issue. They are all animals.”

“Nothing of note in here.”

“It isss injured. We sshould not sizturb it.”

12 Food. And being so low, it's an... option.

“At least this one doesn't look so bad.”

“You sure?”

“Pass me that Ambrosia. I need it to steady my nerves now.”

“No.”

“I hope we do not have to go down there.”

“You and me both, buddy.”

“How far down would it go?”

“I have no intention of finding out.

“We can't take the boat any further. We walk the rest of the way.”

I also Minor Mana up about 500 food. I'm not an idiot.

“How much further?”

“Maybe we can ask them?”

“Oh come on.”

Two Groups of hostile Vahnatai. This is very difficult as you have no chance to rest or recover, and unless you're like me and abuse the system slightly, you simply won't have the resources to rest either.